Backed with millions of dollars in contributions from business, the Committee to Save New York has been Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s most important ally in his battles with public-sector unions over government spending, pensions and teacher accountability.
But the committee turns out to have another source of money: a group of building trade unions who contributed $500,000 last year. Their decision to back Mr. Cuomo — and help finance an offensive against their public-sector brethren — illuminates a deepening fissure in the labor movement.
Labor officials said the union contributions to the business group in 2011, which were revealed in records filed with the federal Labor Department and interviews with people familiar with the donations, reflected workers’ deep unease about a slowdown in the construction industry in New York and their hope that Mr. Cuomo and the business committee could persuade voters and lawmakers to support publicly financed building projects and encourage growth.
Now this leak of the building trade unions donating $500,000 to the Committee To Save New York (out of the total $17.9 million CSNY raised in 2011) is very interesting, coming on the heels of the news that Governor Cuomo's CSNY took $2.4 million from an overseas gambling consortium just days before Governor Cuomo declared gambling to be a centerpiece of his economic agenda.
It's not an accident that someone leaked this story to the papers, of course, because it accomplishes a few things:
1. It supposedly shows that Cuomo's Committee To Save New York didn't just take money from business groups and Wall Street
2. It supposedly shows that the anti-union agenda CSNY has pushed is actually backed by some private trade unions (and therefore couldn't be actually anti-union at all)
3. It deflects from the gambling story
But I take something else from this leak.
Notice where the information came from:
Labor officials said the union contributions to the business group in 2011, which were revealed in records filed with the federal Labor Department and interviews with people familiar with the donations, reflected workers’ deep unease about a slowdown in the construction industry in New York and their hope that Mr. Cuomo and the business committee could persuade voters and lawmakers to support publicly financed building projects and encourage growth.
...
The unions contributing to the Committee to Save New York included the Mason Tenders’ District Council, which oversees local laborers’ unions in New York City, as well as affiliates of the Laborers Eastern Region, an organization of laborers unions in New York City, New Jersey and Delaware. Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, sits on the committee’s advisory board.
The leak came from the labor union leaders themselves who gave money to Cuomo's Committee To Save New York (or people close to them.)
Did they just decide to leak this information out of the goodness of their hearts and because they have such a close relationship with Governor Cuomo?
I suppose that could be.
But more likely, the story was leaked because Cuomo has been on the defensive since the Times story about the gambling bribes, er lobbying, broke and he wanted to start deflecting and/or mitigating some of the damage from the story.
What better way to deflect and/or mitigate the damage from the story than have private unions leak to the press that they too gave to Cuomo's Committee To Save New York?
This way, CSNY can say, "See, we didn't just take money from business interests. We also took money from unions. How anti-union and anti-worker can we be if the building trade unions gave us $500,000?"
But to me, that's not the important part of the story.
The important part is that Cuomo (or somebody close to Cuomo) wanted this particular piece of donor information leaked to the press.
The Committee To Save New York refuses to reveal its donor list, so the fact that Cuomo (or somebody close to him) asked/demanded that the building trade unions tell the press they donated to CSNY matters.
It matters because it means if Cuomo and CSNY are happy to reveal the building trades donated, then they can reveal the rest of the donors to CSNY too.
Now they won't want to do that because it won't serve their political purposes which is to
1. Put the unions and Cuomo's opponents on the defensive (except for the building trade unions, which are closely allied to the real estate industry and Cuomo himself)
2. Turn the story away from the overseas gambling bribes, er, donations
So I say, Governor Cuomo, if you can reveal that the building trade unions donated to your lobbying group, the Committee To Save New York, you can reveal the rest of the donor list as well.
You are always talking about the importance of transparency in Albany politics, governor.
You're always talking about the importance of holding others accountable.
Why don't you engage in some transparency and accountability yourself as well?
I would like to raise another point about these unions and their support of Gov Cuomo and like minded politicians. These unions are construction workers and the corruption within those organizations has been documented time and time again. It is no surprise that these hard hat leaders donate think of it as a reverse kick back. Heck, the School Construction Authority has robbed millions of tax payer dollars during the Bloomberg years as school construction rivaled developer construction and the unions benefited hand in hand. That Cuomo may be involved on his level is questionable, but somewhere down the line their is a pay to play connection. John Liu may be willing to expose this type of corruption while he has time left on his term.
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